Chapter 8 - The BrotherKyle called me at 7:05 a.m.
I answered.
His voice was calm.
“Where are you?”
“Why?”
“Because Dad wants to talk.”
“Dad can talk to his lawyer.”
Kyle laughed.
“You still don't understand.”
“Understand what?”
“You were never the target.”
I stared at the phone.
“What?”
“You were bait.”
Silence.
“For who?”
Kyle's voice dropped.
“For Adrian.”
Then he hung up.
Three minutes later, Mom arrived at the location where Adrian and I were hiding.
She was alone.
“I want to tell you everything.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“It's too late.”
Mom looked at him.
“It isn't.”
She turned to me.
“Kyle knows where you are.”
I frowned.
“How?”
“He planted a tracker in your car.”
I looked at Adrian.
He immediately stepped outside.
We checked the vehicle.
Nothing.
Then Mom pointed beneath the driver's seat.
A tiny black device.
I tore it free.
“This is impossible.”
“No,” Mom whispered.
“Kyle has been working with Daniel for years.”
I stared at her.
“He's my brother.”
She nodded.
“He knows.”
“Then why?”
Mom's eyes filled with tears.
“Because Daniel promised him everything.”
“The house?”
“The company.”
“The money?”
“Everything.”
Adrian clenched his fists.
“And you helped?”
Mom broke down.
“I was scared.”
“You sold me.”
“I thought I could get you back.”
“You didn't.”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“I failed.”
The room went silent.
Then Mom pulled a small envelope from her coat.
“There's something else.”
I opened it.
Inside was an old hospital bracelet.
My name was printed on it.
Except it wasn't my name.
It said:
BABY BOY VALE.
Below it:
DECEASED.
I looked up.
“Why would they fake my death?”
Mom whispered:
“Because someone else was supposed to die.”
My blood ran cold.
“Who?”
She looked toward Adrian.
“Your father.”
Adrian's face hardened.
“You told them I was dead.”
“They were going to kill you.”
“You could have warned me.”
“I did.”
He stared at her.
“When?”
“The night they took the baby.”
Adrian suddenly looked sick.
“You were the woman who left the note.”
Mom nodded.
“I told you to run.”
“And you?”
“They caught me.”
She pulled another paper from the envelope.
A police report.
Adrian's death certificate.
Fake.
Then another.
My father's murder charge.
Also fake.
I stared at the documents.
“What really happened?”
Mom answered.
“Daniel didn't want to kill Adrian.”
She looked at me.
“He wanted him to take the blame.”
“For what?”
She whispered:
“The murder of your grandfather.”
Before I could respond, every light in the building went out.
A voice came from the darkness.
“Family reunion's over.”
Kyle.
May you like
Then a gunshot.
Adrian fell.
